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A nice bedtime Story

My two year old son is a huge dinosaur fan so The Dirty Great Dinosaur by Martin Waddle seemed little and ideal book.

The story is of a little boy, called Hal, who is playing in his garden with his dog when a dirty great dinosaur bursts into the garden smashing through the fence. When the dinosaur threatens to eat him, he politely tells the dinosaur it isn't fair due to his size. He also refuses to let him eat his Mom and Dad on the grounds he loves them and would miss them. The dinosaur finally settles on eating Hal's pet dog. Billy his dog and Hal take on the dinosaur and manage to tie him up with a clothes line. After they make him give in and promising he won't eat any people or pets the dirty great dinosaur clears up the mess he has made and fixes the fence but is still hungry. Hal's parents kindly let him stay for tea and he runs off very happy.

The illustrations that accompany this book are very unusual as they look like crayon drawings. They are bright yet simple and fill the page. The illustrations do enhance the story and give visual images that spark the imagination.

The first time I read this book to my son he enjoyed it although I actually found it a chore. Every time the dinosaur is mentioned they use the whole dirty great dinosaur term. I have now grown to think of the dinosaur as the dirty great dinosaur and the text seems to flow more easily. Children do like repetition and this book plays up to that fact.

I do like the messages behind the story that a little boy uses his manners and stands up to somebody as big as a dinosaur because the dinosaur is wrong. I also like that the dinosaur learnt his lesson and put right what he did wrong and it has a happily ever after story. I do think that children can learn a lot from this story with these subliminal messages.

My son is much more interested in the fact it is a story about dinosaurs .He enjoys the story and is particularly impressed with my dinosaur impressions. One of his favourite pages is one filled with the dinosaur doing a large burp after his dinner and we always make sure the dinosaur says "Pardon me".

This book does not have the most dramatic story lines and isn't exactly fast paced but it is an ideal slow down for bed time.

This book is never going to be my son's favourite but it is a very comfortable read that he will happily listen to time and time again and a nice way to end the day

This book is available on Amazon for £4.18 with free super saver delivery.It was published by Orchard books in 2009.ISBN-13: 978-1408303597